in getting a stronger lens [longer focal lenth] for my newly acquired Speed Graphic. I'm being told that the current lens on this fella, is a fairly cheap wide angle, which is fine with me, since I've only shot 2 pieces of film with it to date.

The lens and lens board stuff confuses me. I "think" I can put any mfg lens on my camera as long as it fits my lens board? Does my lens board have some type of specific name, I can reference when buying a stronger lens?

Can someone tell me in plain hillbilly language how do I go about getting a stronger lens, so I don't have to place the camera in someones lap, if I want to shoot a portrait?

Appreciate it. I've provided an image of the front of the camera for those who would need to know. If you need further info, I'll try my best to provide it.

1. That is not a "cheap" lens. It is an older commercial lens of decent quality and was used for years by many people making money by the trade of photography.

2. The lens board is a 4 inch by 4 inch Graflex "C" board.

3. Just about any "reasonable" focal length lens will work. Generally one buys a board (or makes a board) and drills it for the lens/shutter rather than buying a lens/shutter to fit the board they already have. That said, the board you currently have will fit a Size 0 shuttered lens like you'll find on a lot of 150 mm (or so) lenses.

4. Replacing the lens will often result in an inability to close up the camera again unless you specifically shop for a very small diameter lens.

5. If your focal plane shutter is working you also have the option of buying, installing, and using a barrel-mount lens -- one without shutter.

6. As a guy named "Dan" would say... read the information on this site and educate yourself as well as asking question.

p.s. For portraiture you might have the wrong camera, in general. The 127 is a wide lens but even with a 135 or 152 Optar it is still too wide (my opinion) for anything but environmental portraiture. I've mounted a couple of 190 mm lenses on my Graphic and been satisfied but the camera won't colose on them and I didn't want to recalibrate the rangefinder so focus using ground glass was used -- not a problem except slow and requires caemra on tripod.

The lens board for these cameras are easy to make and are not that common on the used market. An existing board can have its shutter mount hole enlarged or a reducing spacer made to adapt just about any lens to the camera. Lens are designed to cover a given format. The only way to know what that is is to look it up in the manufacturers data. Lens designed for smaller formats will not cover the 4x5 format leaving a circular image in the middle of the negative or the corners cut off. A portrait lens for 4x5 is usually is in 150mm to 210mm._________________The best camera ever made is the one that YOU enjoy using and produces the image quality that satifies YOU.